Father's Intuition
by AtLoLevad
Summary: Sonny Carisi and his wife welcome their first child


"Hey, hey Jules," Sonny Carisi nudged his wife with one hand and pulled his pants up with the other. He hopped on one foot, the other tangling in the fabric, almost causing him to lose his balance. He grunted in annoyance.

"Mmm," she hummed, sleepily pushing his hand away. "Go 'way. Sleep."

"I gotta go, babe. Lieu called," he said, brushing her hair away from her face before he moved away from the bed to grab his shirt and finish getting dressed.

Jules blinked slowly, Sonny and their bedroom coming into focus. "Whattaya mean?" she slurred, still mostly asleep. Her hand came up to brush messy, knotted hair from her face. She winced as her fingers caught in a particularly nasty snarl.

From the bathroom, Sonny shouted, "Call came in. We've got another vic from that rapist that hit three different women in the last two weeks." He gelled back his hair and shoved his toothbrush in his mouth.

"Oh," Jules murmured, finally waking up fully and struggling to sit up, her nine-months-pregnant belly making everything difficult nowadays. "Everyone's going?"

Sonny spit out his mouthful of toothpaste and stuck his head back into the bedroom, "Yeah. Fin's already there and Olivia and Rollins are en route."

"Okay, good," Jules said, her mouth twisting nervously as she ran her hand over her stomach. The baby rolled around and she swallowed nervously.

Sonny caught sight of the expression on her face and crossed the room in two long strides, coming to cup her face in his hands. "Babe, Jules, it's gonna be fine. Two weeks 'till the baby's here and then I'm takin' some paternity."

He brushed his thumb over her lower lip and leaned in to kiss her reassuringly. She kissed him back, one hand snaking around his neck to play with his hair. Jules tangled her fingers in the soft bits of ungelled hair at the nape of his neck and leaned into her husband. She just wanted him to stay home and safe.

"Love you," he murmured against his wife's lips, pulling away slightly. He pressed a quick kiss to the corner of her mouth and broke away. "I gotta finish and get goin'. Faster I get there, faster I'm home."

"Okay," Jules whispered, tearing up a little. She wiped at her eyes, laughing self-deprecatingly at herself. "Sorry, sorry. It's just the hormones. I'm fine. Go, go. Maybe I'll bring you lunch?"

Sonny laughed a little. "Yeah, lunch sounds good. Call before you come? Wanna make sure we're actually back."

"Yeah, I'll call," Jules agreed. She reached out and grabbed his hand, tangling their fingers together. "Be careful, Sonny. Please?"

"I promise, darlin'," Sonny kissed the back of her hand and then darted out of the room, shouting, "I'll text ya when I get to work!"

Jules dropped back against the pillows, listening for the telltale slam of the front door that told her Sonny had left. It never came, instead Sonny reappeared in the bedroom, grinning.

"What?" Jules started, confused crinkle forming in between her eyebrows.

"Forgot to say goodbye to my other girl!" Sonny laughed, half throwing his body on the bed to press and exaggerated kiss to Jules' bulging stomach. "Be good for your ma," he muttered, eyes twinkling happily.

Jules rolled her eyes, "You goof." She smiled though, and cupped Sonny's cheek with her hand. "We don't know if it's a girl. Could be a boy."

"Nah," Sonny looked up at her through his eyelashes, "It's a girl. I gotta feeling."

"What? Detective's gut intuition talking?" Jules laughed, threading her fingers through the soft bits of ungelled hair by Sonny's ears. He leaned into her touch.

He winked, "Better, father's intuition."

"Oh get out of here," Jules snorted a laugh. "That's not a thing."

"Mother's intuition is, so why not father's intuition?" Sonny retorted, kissing the peak of her stomach and grinning when the baby kicked against his lips. Lifting one hand from Jules' hip, Sonny smoothed his palm over her belly button, rubbing his thumb back and forth.

Jules relaxed under Sonny's touch, until they both felt his phone vibrate in his pocket – a harsh reminder that he had to go, and was more than likely was going to be late. Sonny pulled his hand away and stood up with an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry, doll, I am. I'd rather be here with you two," he said, frowning.

"I know," Jules gave an encouraging smile, despite the fact that her stomach was rolling with nerves and fear. She and Sonny had been married nearly two years, dating for three, but she would never be used to sending him out into the line of fire. Especially now that they were expecting a baby. "Go make the city a better place, babe."

"Come by for lunch," Sonny reminded Jules of her earlier idea. "Everyone will be happy to see you."

"I will," Jules smiled, "Now go! I don't want Liv yelling at you."

"Aw, Lieu will understand," Sonny laughed as he darted out of the room. Jules smiled until she heard the slam of the front door, and then her smile faded into a frown.

One hand resting on her stomach, she said, "Your daddy is going to give me a heart attack one day."

The baby kicked in response and Jules huffed a laugh. It was early, but not so early that she had time to go back to sleep. She'd been home, ostensibly on early maternity leave/vague bed rest orders, for a week now, but that didn't really mean anything except she hauled her laptop into bed and worked while clad in Sonny's old Fordham sweatshirts and snuggled under covers.

Right now, she and a coworker were working on drafting a contract for one of their higher profile clients, and Jules didn't really want to leave her coworker in the lurch by not finishing her portion of it before the baby was born.

She pushed the covers to the side and slowly got out of bed. No time like the present to start working. Yawning, Jules headed for the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face. She hummed a nonsense tune while she went about her business.

Jules chattered away to the baby as she set about making herself some breakfast.

"What should we bring to daddy and the team for lunch?" she spoke to her stomach, patting just above her belly button where the baby usually liked to kick the most. "Pizza? Pizza sounds perfect!"

"I'm going crazy," she muttered to herself, munching on a piece of buttered toast. She brushed off her hands and grabbed her laptop so she could start working.

Sonny texted her a little bit later, letting her know he'd gotten to the hospital and promising, again, that he wouldn't take any unnecessary risks. She'd sent back a kissy face emoji.

* * *

"I come bearing sustenance," Jules announced, walking into the squad room. She had three pizza pies in her arms, partially resting on her stomach.

Sonny jumped up from his desk to take the pies from his wife, "Why didn't you ask one of the unis to carry these up for you?"

"Aw, Carisi, lay off," Amanda chastised her partner lightly, walking over from the break room. She hugged Jules quickly. "Pregnant woman can carry a couple boxes of pizza."

"Thank you, Amanda," Jules laughed. She turned to Sonny and mock glared at him, "Listen to your partner. I'm perfectly capable of carrying some pizzas."

She wiggled out of her puffy winter coat and draped it over the spare chair next to Sonny's desk.

"Yeah, I know you are. But ya shouldn't have to!" Sonny protested, hands raised in a placating gesture. "I just want you to make sure you take it easy. You're supposed to be on modified bed rest anyway."

Jules lowered herself into Sonny's desk chair, sighing happily as the pressure on her lower back was relieved, "I'm fine, honey. Modified bed rest still means I can go out and do things. Just get me a slice of pepperoni. There are plates in my purse."

"You got it, Ju," Sonny grabbed the plates and a slice of pizza for his wife. He and Amanda grabbed their own slices and settled in to chat.

"Where are Olivia and Fin?" Jules asked around her mouthful of pepperoni. She wiped at the grease on her mouth and rested her plate on her stomach.

Sonny jerked his thumb over his shoulder, "Interrogation. We picked up a suspect from this morning's attack."

A blob of sauce dropped from his slice onto his tie.

"Damn," he muttered, putting his plate on his desk and grabbing a handful of napkins. He dabbed at the sauce, but a faint red stain was left behind.

Amanda and Jules giggled at him. Amanda nudged her friend, "Maybe you should give him one of the baby's bibs?"

"Ha ha, real funny, Rollins," Sonny rolled his eyes, grabbing his pizza once more.

"If I thought the bib would help I'd use one," Jules laughed.

"I thought I heard the woman who made an honest man outta Carisi," Fin said, coming out of the interrogation room with a smile on his face.

"Hey!" Sonny protested, "I've always been honest."

"To a fault, babe," Jules said dryly, struggling to get up so she could hug Fin hello.

He held out an hand to stop her, "Nah, stay down. I know it's tough to move." Jules grinned gratefully.

"I'm pretty much in one spot until Sonny helps me move," she laughed. "Baby's making it hard to do anything."

"I don't miss those days," Amanda sympathized, raising her pizza crust in a move of solidarity.

"I can't wait until I can see my feet again," Jules sighed wistfully. She grinned suddenly, "Ooh! Baby's kicking! Come feel!"

Amanda leaned forward and grinned when she got a kick to the palm. "Now, I _do_ miss that feeling."

She turned to Fin, "Now Jesse's kicks actually hurt! And she's picking up attitude left and right!"

Sonny pressed a kiss to Jules' temple, free hand working at the knots in her shoulder. She leaned into him, eyes closing briefly.

"You tired?" he whispered when Fin and Amanda were distracted with a conversation about Jesse's latest incident of back-talk.

"A little," Jules admitted. She winced and shifted in the chair. "And my back's hurting a little bit."

Sonny's eyes popped wide. "Your back? How long? That's a sign of labor!"

Jules rolled her eyes and put her hand on Sonny's chest. "Calm down, it's not labor. I haven't been having contractions and the doctor said first babies are usually late."

"I don't know..." Sonny said slowly, narrowing his eyes at her. He lifted his head, "Rollins!"

"Yeah?" Amanda turned away from Fin.

"Back pain? Sign of labor?" he asked, ignoring Jules' eye rolling.

"I mean, yes?" Amanda said, shrugging and leaning forward to grab a second slice. "But, uh, you know my labor with Jess wasn't exactly by-the-book. Why? Are you in labor?"

Jules shook her head, "Definitely not. Staten Island here is just being a worrier."

"Still," Fin said, "maybe you wanna go check that out. Childbirth's nothing to mess around with."

"See?" Sonny said, gesturing to Fin. "Reasonable. We're going to the hospital. I've got your purse."

Jules protested loudly, but Sonny hoisted her up under the armpits and gently nudged her towards the elevators.

"Tell Lieu where I am," he called back to Amanda and Fin. He continued pushing Jules towards the elevator.

"Dominick Carisi!" she snapped, digging her heels into the ground. "You're being ridiculous. You can't just push me out of here because you're overprotective!"

"Yeah? Get mad at me if nothing's wrong," Sonny snapped back. "I'm not messing around with your life or our kid's life. Just get your cute ass movin'."

"You're a pain in my cute ass, Dominick," Jules snapped, but she kept walking.

Meanwhile, Sonny knew he was in trouble since Jules had used his real name twice in five minutes. But he wasn't taking any chances. Not with Jules and not with the baby.

* * *

"If you say 'I told you so', I'll kill you," Jules grumbled, struggling out of her maternity shirt. Sonny gently helped her lift it over her head.

"Aw, come on, I would never," he said, face serious as he tied her hospital gown behind her neck and upper back. "Now get in bed."

"And there we go. The four words that got me in this predicament," Jules teased, shooting her husband and wink so he would know she wasn't really mad at him. She used his chest for leverage to get situated in the hospital bed, shifting for a minute or two until she found a comfortable spot.

Sonny kissed the top of her head. "You know you loved it, babe."

"Yeah! At the time. I didn't realize how much contractions were going to hurt," Jules winced and grabbed a fistful of Sonny's shirt as one came and went. Now that she actually knew what they were, she had realized that she'd been having mild contractions all day.

"Well, you're doin' great so far," he smiled. "Think you'll be okay for like an hour so I can go home and get changed and get your hospital bag?"

He gestured to his three-piece suit, once so put together, but now his tie was hanging loosely around his neck, his vest was unbuttoned and his shirt was partially untucked. "As snazzy as the suit is, I'd rather meet our kid in something more comfortable."

"I'll be fine, go ahead," Jules sighed, already feeling tired. "Make sure you bring the camera and its charger."

"You got it, Scavullo," Sonny grinned, leaning down to kiss her quickly before running out of the room. Jules shook her head affectionately.

* * *

"You're dead, I'm killing you oh my god!" Jules yelped, clamping down on Sonny's hand as the doctor instructed her to push once more. He had one arm wrapped around her back to support her.

"You can do whatever ya want to me after this is over, Ju," he said, tone trying for soothing, but hitting more of a hybrid of excitement and panic. She groaned and Sonny adjusted his grip so he was propping her up more.

"Just one more, Julianna," the doctor encouraged. "The head is out."

"Sonny, Sonny, I can't, I can't," Jules moaned, crying. "I'm so tired."

"Yeah, you can," he brushed her hair off of her face and grabbed her hand again. "You've got this, babe. You're the toughest broad I know. Just one more push."

Jules bore down on the last push, holding Sonny's hand so hard he definitely felt something crack. Trying not to wince, he encouraged her until the sounds of a baby crying broke through all the other noise in the room.

"Oh my god!" Jules cried, tears falling freely down her cheeks. "What is it, Sonny?"

Sonny grinned and leaned over, "It's a boy! It's a perfect little boy."

The doctor smiled up at him, "Would you like to cut the cord, Dad?"

"Hell yeah!" Sonny exclaimed, unashamedly crying a little bit as he cut the cord. The doctor handed the baby to a nurse so he could be cleaned up while Jules delivered the placenta. Sonny held her hair off of her face and rubbed her back, his eyes tracking the nurse who had their son.

"Here he is," one nurse said, bringing the baby back to Jules and resting him on her chest.

"Oh my god, he's...Sonny, he's gorgeous," Jules cried happily, holding the baby tightly. Sonny leaned over and brushed the baby's cheek with his fingertips.

"Yeah, he is. Just like his ma," he grinned, kissing Jules. She huffed a disbelieving laugh, but smiled widely, tears flowing freely down the sides of her face. Sonny brushed them away tenderly.

"You're a charmer, Sonny Carisi," she murmured affectionately, her gaze never leaving the baby's scrunched up little face.

He grinned, one hand cupping the back of Jules' head and one resting against the baby's back.

* * *

"Knock, knock," Amanda stuck her head into the hospital room.

"Knock, knock!" Jesse mimicked her mom, pushing past Amanda and barreling into the room. The five-year-old had a fistful of balloons and a bright grin on her face. "I wanna see the baby!"

"Jess!" Amanda chastised her daughter, following with a brightly colored gift bag and a white paper bag from a nearby bakery, "Remember, we talked about being polite and waiting to be invited into a room?"

Jesse looked at her mom with an exasperated frown, letting go of the balloon strings, "But mama! It's Uncle Sonny and Aunt Ju! I wanted to see the baby!"

"Aw, leave her be, Rollins," Sonny laughed, lifting Jesse onto his hip. He pressed a smacking kiss to her cheek, "Come on, kiddo. I'll introduce you."

He held Jesse over the bed where Jules grinned tiredly at Amanda and Jesse. She waved a little, the baby cradled securely in her arms, sleeping for now.

"How're you feeling, mom?" Amanda asked.

"Like I got hit by a truck," Jules said honestly. "But, god was it worth it."

She caught sight of the bakery bag and perked up, "Hey, what's that?"

Amanda laughed, "Dessert! Jess picked one of each cookie the bakery had." She held the bag open within Jules' reach.

"Oh, bless," Jules grinned, happily digging out a seven-layer cookie and munching contentedly. "Thanks Jess, Amanda."

"Uncle Sonny?" Jesse peered down at the baby, completely missing her aunt eating the cookies. "He's kinda pink."

Sonny laughed. "Yeah, he is. But so were you. All babies are pink."

"What's his name?" Amanda asked, accepting Jules' unspoken offer to hold the baby and making silly faces at him. Sonny deposited Jesse on the bed, where the kindergartener quickly curled up against Jules' side, preparing to tell a story.

Jules looked up at Sonny, brushing one hand over Jesse's blonde ponytail, "You wanna tell her, babe?"

"Yeah, yeah," Sonny cleared his throat. "It's Dominick Michael Carisi."

Amanda looked up sharply, her eyes wide. "Michael? For Dodds?"

"Yeah," Sonny admitted. "Ju liked the name and I liked Dodds. He was good police."

"It's a good name, Carisi," Amanda said, looking down at baby Dominick. To lighten the mood, she teased, "Lucky for you, he looks like Jules."

Jules laughed from her spot on the bed where she was now absently braiding Jesse's hair while the little girl chattered away about her kindergarten class.

"I think his nose is all Sonny," Jules said, a yawn breaking her sentence in half. Amanda and Sonny shared a look before Amanda handed the baby over to his dad.

"Come on, Jess," Amanda lifted her daughter off of the hospital bed. "We're gonna let Aunt Jules get some rest."

"But mama! I wanna stay," Jesse protested, pouring adorably.

Sonny and Jules hid their snickers behind their hands, knowing it would cause Amanda more trouble if Jesse thought she had an audience. Amanda still glared at them and warned, "Just you two wait! Your kid is half-Carisi."

"Hey!" Sonny frowned, "What's that supposed ta mean?"

Amanda laughed again, "Liv, Fin, and Barba all said they'd be by at different times today."

Jules hummed, "Oh good. We've already seen all of Sonny's family, so rounding out the day with the SVU family sounds nice."

"He's just such a little peach," Amanda said again, smiling widely. "I'd forgotten how little they were. I'll call tomorrow to check in."

Jesse waved, "Bye Uncle Sonny. Bye Aunt Jules. Bye Dom'nick!"

Jules waved back, "Bye Jess!"

Sonny waved Baby Dominick's closed fist, "Bye Jesse. Bye Aunt Amanda."

The Rollinses left the hospital room, leaving the small family alone for the first time in hours.

Jules watched Sonny rock the baby for a little bit. He held Dom securely in the crook of his arm and gently swayed back and forth. Jules always knew that Sonny was good with kids - his nieces and Noah and Jesse were always screaming to be with Uncle Sonny - but there was something so different about seeing a man with his own son.

"It suits you," she said quietly, curling up a little on the bed.

"Huh?" Sonny startled, looking up from the baby's face for the first time since Amanda had left.

"Being a dad, holding a baby," Jules said, waving one hand vaguely in his direction. "You're so _natural_."

Sonny shrugged, "I've had practice, babe. Just cause I look good holdin' a baby, our baby, doesn't mean I'm not terrified."

He grinned down at his wife, "Besides, I'm lucky, I've got the best possible partner in this gig."

Jules' eyes welled up and she sniffled, "Stop being so damn sweet, Sonny Carisi! My hormones are all over the place."

"Those'll even out too, eventually," Sonny laughed, leaning down to put Dom in Jules' arms. She smiled softly at the baby, watching intently as he scrunched his little nose - Sonny's nose - and puckered his lips. Jules stroked his back, completely absorbed in watching the hours-old infant.

"I can't believe we made this," she sighed, tilting her head up to look at Sonny, smiling and looking a little dazed. He cupped the back of her head and kissed her.

"Let's make more," he muttered against her mouth.

Dom woke with a sharp cry, startling Jules and Sonny apart. Jules laughed and adjusted herself and the baby so she could let him latch onto her breast.

"Maybe we should get used to this one first?" she teased, reaching out her free hand to hold Sonny's.

"You're the boss," he winked, brushing his free hand over Dom's downy brown hair and feeling like the luckiest damn man in the whole world.

* * *

 _A/N: I love Carisi and I want him to have everything good in the world. SO have fic where he becomes a dad. More to come soon-ish. Drop me a review, let me know what you think, give me prompts for things you'd like to see in a future story! :)_


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